


Ancestral Spirits

by NervousOtaku (orphan_account)



Series: Tales of a 144 Player Fansession! [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anger, Doubting Your Religion, SBURB Fan Session
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 19:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10343325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Or: The Spirits Of My People Have Always Been Real, But Now I Can't Help But Wonder What They Are Really





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not mean to insult anyone with how I've chosen to represent Tiponi's gods and spirits. I apologize to anyone I have offended.

They were running alongside her.

Scowling, Tiponi put on an extra burst of speed.

But still, they ran alongside her.

She was starting to get frustrated.

A few of the rabbit-consorts looked up as she approached, scattering in confusion and fear as she darted past. Tiponi ignored them, trying to shake her ‘escorts.‘

She was mad with them. She didn't want to talk to them, didn't want to be around them.

Spotting another one of the steppes, Tiponi veered sharply, startling a few of the spirits, but not enough to put them off. As she began to run up the carved pathway to towards the top of the plateau, several of them ran up ahead. She debated backtracking down, but they'd only follow her still.

So once she reached the top, she skidded across the gravel and sand to kneel at the edge. Her legs folded into the crossed position and her hands slapped into their usual place for when she meditated.

For a while, it seemed to work. None of the spirits spoke to her.

And then one began to come forward, being so bold as to sit only a mere foot away from her.

“Go _away_ , Toho.” she ordered icily.

 ** _You are angry with us._** he remarked.

“Gee,” Tiponi sneered, “I wonder why _that_ could be!”

**_We do wonder._ **

The rest of them were settling in close now.

“Hm, let's see!” Tiponi began, snapping out of her meditative pose and turning to face the spirit. “You led me on for eighteen years. You misled my people for _centuries!_ I don't _care_ if I was made, not born, and they weren't actually my people by blood, they were still my _family!_ My _tribe!_ ”

 ** _You exiled yourself._** Nata-aska grumbled.

“To protect them from you lot! You all had to be so immature as to get upset with our spiritual leaders when they felt offended at tradition being broken—”

**_The tradition was foolish—_ **

“I don't _care!_ It was tradition! It was something _engraved_ into both them and me from a very early age! It was our _life!_ What right do the lot of _you_ have to sneer at it?! You _were_ our tradition! Our ancestral spirits and gods!” Tiponi yelled, jumping to her feet as she felt her rage start to boil over.

The assembled company of spirits shifted and mumbled.

“You led them on— You promised _safety_ when the Reckoning came, you told them that Pahana would come and _save_ them! _Why?!_ Why did you _lie_ to us?!” she screamed.

Slowly, slowly, Masauwu came forward. Tiponi glared up at him as he did so, usually cowed by his presence but not today.

 ** _They could not hear. They could not understand. We could not reach them properly, and our words were misinterpreted. We tried to tell them our story, and what they heard were myths. Only you can see us. Only you can hear us._** he whispered drily.

“Your story?” Tiponi replied, tilting her head.

 ** _Pahana was our friend. He was our leader._** the spirit of death and flame nodded.

 ** _He sacrificed himself to ensure that our world would survive longer, that no Reckoning would come for a time, for as long as we survived, Skaia would not send the meteors._** Tawa elaborated, also stepping forward.

Tiponi was quiet, her crossed arms dropping.

 ** _But our words as we tried to say this were lost, and our leader became a messiah to people. There was nothing we could do to correct them._** Masauwu sighed.

“You... played the game.”

Tiponi looked around the assembled spirits.

“You... _won_ it.”

 ** _Yes_** , Toho nodded, standing, **_But it was all a very long time ago. Things have been changed— updated. Only the premise remains that we are familiar with._**

“... Then you've been trying to prepare me this whole time.”

A chorus of soft affirmatives answered her.

Tiponi turned to look out over the forests below. The sea of warm colors was broken every once in a while by an expanse of flatland or by another plateau holding up more flatland. Both underlings and consorts roamed across the planet, some within her range of sight. In the distance, she could see her house. It looked like it was being built up more.

“... _Why_?”

 ** _We lost many of our friends during our own session,_** Kwahu told her, feathers rustling, **_If we can help to prevent another session from suffering the same losses that we did, then perhaps we will finally be allowed to rest._**

Tiponi was quiet for a while longer.

Then she sighed, turning back to them.

“Alright,” she said, “Palhik Mana is now bound to the game thanks to her prototyping. She can guide me around this session. But until then...”

Tiponi settled back on the ground in her meditative position.

Eyes sliding shut, she ordered, “Tell me your story.”


End file.
